The Douglas Farm
Oliver walked outside and found Mr. Kimball standing by his familiar red jeep.
"Hello Mr. Kimball." Oliver greeted him politely. Mr. Kimball turned towards him.
"Oh! Good afternoon, Mr. Douglas!" Mr. Kimball said, smiling his goofy smile upon seeing him.
"Good afternoon?" Oliver questioned. "Mr. Kimball, it's still early in the morning."
"Really?" Mr. Kimball asked with a confused look on his face. He looked at his wristwatch and smiled.
"How do you like that? I put my watch on upside down!" he exclaimed. "And here, I was worried that I would be late for my three o'clock meeting with my boss!"
Oliver rolled his eyes and let out an "Oh brother," under his breath. Suddenly, Mr. Kimball snapped his fingers.
"Now I remember what I came over for!" he exclaimed. "I came to tell you that the extra lumber that Alf and Ralph needed finally arrived, but it was accidentally delivered to Mr. Haney. His phone was out so he asked me to come deliver the message."
"Boy, was that a mistake!" Oliver exclaimed.
"I don't quite follow you. Well, I don't want to follow you, I just mean that I don't understand you. Well, it's not that I don't understand you…" Mr. Kimball began to babble, but Oliver cut him off.
"Mr. Kimball, don't you have somewhere to be?" he asked.
"Well, I do have that meeting with the boss I have to get to. No, wait, that's in the afternoon." he said.
Oliver rolled his eyes. "Goodbye, Mr. Kimball!"
"Oh, goodbye!" Mr. Kimball said with a smile. He then climbed into his jeep and drove away. Oliver put his fingers to his temples and rubbed them, trying to get rid of the familiar headache he always got when Mr. Kimball paid a visit. After it subsided, Oliver walked over where the Monroe Brothers were working. He found them sawing boards outside the front of the barn.
Ralph looked up from her work and smiled when she saw him coming. "Howdy doody, honey."
"Don't call me…" Oliver was about to exclaim, but Ralph cut him off.
"You married, honey?" she asked.
"You know very well I am!" Oliver replied.
"Well, if your wife ever leaves you, I'll be waiting with open arms." she said with a smile and a wink.
"Why in the world would he go for you when he had Mrs. Douglas as a wife?" Alf exclaimed.
"Alf, if Mr. Douglas weren't present, I would bop you one!" Ralph threatened.
"Look, will you two calm down?" Oliver demanded. Immediately, Alf and Ralph quieted down.
"That's better. Now, I came over here to tell you that the extra lumber you needed was accidentally delivered to Mr. Haney's house. I need you two to pick it up. And don't let him stick you with ridiculous delivery charges!" Oliver commanded.
"Yes, sir! Right away, sir!" Alf said while saluting like a soldier.
"Ha ha! Very funny!" Oliver said sarcastically. "Just pick up the lumber before you get back to work."
"Oh, Mr. Douglas! Before you go, we need your opinion on something. We wanted to know if Eb's new furniture would fit in the loft if he used the decorative scheme he wanted." Ralph asked.
"I'm not quite sure, but you should ask my wife. She's better with that kind of stuff then I am. I'll go get her." With that, Oliver turned around and walked toward the house to call his wife.
"Lisa! Lisa!" he called toward the house. Within seconds, Lisa came running out the back door.
"Vhat is it, dahling?" Lisa asked as she arrived at Oliver's side.
"Honey, the Monroe Brothers need your opinion on something in the barn." Oliver explained.
"In the barn?" Lisa asked with an uneasy tone.
"Yeah. Sweetheart, are you okay?" he asked, noticing the look on her face.
"Um, yes, dahling. Uh, let's go to the barn." she said. Oliver smiled and took her hand in his. He then began leading her over to the barn. But as they walked the closer and closer they got to the barn, the more Lisa began pulling back. Oliver began to feel Lisa get slower and slower until she almost came to a complete stop.
"Um, dahling, do you think they could manage vithout me? I, uh, think I left lunch burning on the stove." she said.
Oliver could tell she was lying and was about to ask what was the matter, but noticed that Lisa didn't realize that he was staring at her. She was looking at the barn with an uneasy, almost frightened look on her face. He then understood what was going on.
"Sure, honey. We can manage without you. You just attend to lunch, alright?" Oliver said. Lisa smiled gratefully and quickly headed back into the house.
Oliver could feel his heart fill with sadness as he watched her walk back into the house. He knew that her traumatic experience would prove scarring, but he never realized just how scarring it would be. He wished he could wrap her in his arms and take all the pain away, but he knew all he could do was be there for her. She would have to work through her fears herself.
Oliver turned around and glumly headed back to the barn alone.